Zoom Webinar Link

Abstract

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti lived and learned in a time and place wherein debates on law, theology, Sufism, logic, and philosophy produced scholars whose chosen positions resisted neat ideological affiliation or categorization. While his inheritors in 19th century Egypt, including Ibrahim al-Bajuri, may appear to have adopted a more narrow range of views and identity frameworks, al-Suyuti’s continued relevancy and authority, despite his often outspoken views on anything from Ibn Arabi’s orthodoxy to logic’s heterodoxy, indicate that scholarly discourse was never seen as containable by mere appeal to authority or majority. In this talk, I will explore the dialogue between al-Suyuti and al-Bajuri, as well as those between each scholar’s contemporaries, demonstrating thereby the richness of ideas and perspectives that were commonplace and (mostly) tolerated among the scholars of Egypt and those in its scholarly orbit. 

Bio

Aaron Spevack specializes in Islamic Intellectual History, with an emphasis on 13th-19th-century law, theology, and Sufism and their reception in contemporary Muslim communities. He has published three books and a number of articles on Islamic intellectual history including The Logic of the al-Fanari: A Study and Annotated Translation of al-Fanari's Commentary on the Isaghuji (Lockwood, 2025), and The Archetypal Sunni Scholar: Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of al-Bajuri (SUNY, 2014.) His most recent article, Defending Definitions: The Tools of Disputation in the Logic of al-Fanari, was published in the Methodos journal in 2022. Since 2011, he has taught courses on Islam, Islamic Finance, and World Religions in Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education. He has also taught at Brandeis University, BU, Hamilton College, Colgate University, and Loyola University New Orleans. He serves as Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Islamic Philosophy, the ASIPT Online Journal, and the ASIPT Series on Islamic Philosophy and Theology with Lockwood Press. In 2020, he co-founded the American Society of Islamic Philosophy and Theology with support from the Templeton Foundation. In addition to research and teaching, he serves as Muslim Chaplain for the Brandeis and BU Muslim communities.

Download Program